This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/Cybotnic-Rebooted on 2025-07-19 00:43:47+00:00.
Hello! …I can’t think of an intro that wouldn’t sound incredibly forced, so let’s go straight into the list!
#10: Courtney Brown, Penn State
The 1st overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, Courtney Brown ends a 14 year streak of an EDGE rusher not being picked in the top 2 of the draft… more on that later, and marks the beginning of an era where edges become more important than ever going into the 21st century. He is still to this day the leading sack holder for Penn State, at 33 over his 4 years in the program, putting up 13.5 in his senior season. He was also a very physically impressive prospect, being described as the best specimen at the position since Bruce Smith despite not having done the combine.
Still, there are some blemishes on his resume as a prospect, prime among them being that he was in what was seen as a slightly weak class for the time and that he wasn’t even the heavy consensus 1st overall pick going into it, typically being interchangeable with LB LaVar Arrington, OT Chris Samuels, WR Peter Warrick, and DT Corey Simon on who would go #1. Still, it would feel wrong to not include him here as he did go #1 overall in an era where the EDGE position wasn’t as valuable as it is today, so he lands here at #10.
#9: Von Miller, Texas A&M
Going 2nd overall in the 2011 NFL Draft, Miller has almost the exact opposite problems as a profile than Brown. He was in a super strong class and was unanimously a top 3 prospect at least (It was almost always Newton, Miller, Dareus in some order), but wasn’t ever in the 1st overall conversation like him.
Still, some things are similar between the two, and those include being physical specimens (though in different archetypes, as Brown was built like a prototype 4-3 Defensive End, while Miller was a prototype 3-4 Outside Linebacker) and the fact that they both got a TON of sacks in college, in fact getting the exact same number of sacks in the same number of seasons at 33 in 4. That’s obviously going to be one of the biggest things with these prospects: HUGE sack production in college.
#8: Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina
The 1st overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, some may argue for Clowney to be higher than this, but I’m not sure I can agree. First off, while really deep at the top, the class didn’t really have any great talents outside of Clowney and arguably Sammy Watkins and Khalil Mack, so there wasn’t much pushing Clowney, and then you have the fact that he wasn’t even the unanimous top EDGE of the class (there were real discussions of Clowney vs Mack at the time, and while Clowney came out on top most of the time, for a best of all time list, most doesn’t quite cut it) and was even commonly pushed out of the top spot by Blake Bortles of all people a good amount of the time.
He also wasn’t as productive off the EDGE as most of these other players, only recording 24 sacks over 3 years and only having 10+ sacks in a season once in his sophomore season of 2012. He was a freak athlete, but at a pretty light 266. He is one of those players where I feel like the public hype was higher than his value within the league.
#7: Mario Williams, NC State
At the 1st overall pick of the 2006 NFL Draft, you have Mario Williams, who is the exact opposite of Clowney where his value within the league was higher than what the public was hyping up at the time. While we do remember that he was taken #1 overall when it was reportedly supposed to be Reggie Bush, we forget that he was the very clear #2 to New Orleans even with Bush being heavily favored at 1, and that he came from one of the most stacked top of the drafts we have seen, with multiple top 5 of this century prospects at each position coming out.
He also is one of the best athletes at EDGE we have ever seen at an INSANE 295 pounds. While he has a similarly low sack total (25.5 in 3 years), he also had his peak in his final year, with 14.5 sacks as a junior. His only real critique is that he got most of his sacks against bad opponents, but that is usually typical for top flight EDGE prospects.
#6: Julius Peppers, North Carolina
The 2nd overall pick of the 2002 NFL Draft, Peppers goes ahead of the previous couple despite being 2nd overall instead of 1st because he is still the 1st non QB taken. He was a lot more stable in his draft spot than Clowney and Williams, being the first unanimous top non QB we have seen so far. He’s also one of the best athletes to ever play the position, having played both Football and Basketball at UNC, all while compiling 30.5 sacks in 3 seasons of playing, with 2 double digit sack years as well.
#5: Chase Young, Ohio State
The 2nd overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, Chase Young is almost the same exact profile as Peppers. The biggest difference between the two is weight (283 for Peppers vs 264 for Young), but both were unanimous top non QBs, both were freakish athletes for speed to power, and both ended up getting 30.5 sacks over their 3 years of playing. The tiebreaker was who they went behind, because as much as David Carr the prospect is underrated today by people who weren’t around, Joe Burrow was definitely a better prospect than him, and thus a more respectable prospect to go behind.
#4: Walt Patulski, Notre Dame
You want to go retro? Let’s go retro! With the 1st overall pick in the 1972 NFL Draft, went Notre Dame edge rusher Walt Patulski. Now, before we get started, let’s get one thing cleared up: Most of the people listed as “Defensive End” on these old of drafts are in reality interior players. John Matuszak, Ed Jones, and Lee Roy Selmon played a majority of their snaps in college inside of the tackles, so do not count for a list of Edge rushers.
Patulski, however, mostly played a role that we would now describe as an edge, standing outside the tackle and rushing the passer on passing plays. And god damn it, was he great at it… reportedly. Very little stats or tape of Patulski still survives today, but it is reported that he was the best pass rusher scouts had ever seen at the time. And while sacks weren’t officially recorded at the time, his tackle numbers are super high that I imagine a good amount of them are sacks. Add that with being a generational athlete for the time, and you have one of the best prospects history doesn’t remember because he was a bust from 50 years ago.
#3: Lawrence Taylor, North Carolina
The 2nd overall pick of the 1981 NFL Draft, Taylor was actually the heavy favorite to go 1st before Heisman winning Running Back George Rogers went there. Still, in the run heavy era of the time, a running back going 1st is similar to a QB going first today, so it’s not THAT big of a deal for his profile. And what a profile it is. While his defensive stats in 1978 weren’t kept track of, he also played Off Ball Linebacker that year, so it wouldn’t have had super impressive stats, so in his 2 seasons on the EDGE, he totaled 21 sacks, with a 16 sack final season. Combine that with absurd athleticism, and you have one of the best prospects of all time on your hands.
#2: Myles Garrett, Texas A&M
The 1st overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, Myles is the closest to a generational talent at EDGE that we’ve seen in decades. Freak athleticism we hadn’t seen since Mario Williams combined with 32.5 sacks in his college career in 3 years, with 2 double digit sack seasons, and being one of the most heavy favorites to go 1st overall in this century despite not being a QB, he has easily the cleanest resumes we have looked at so far. The only real critique you can level his way is that he got most of his sacks among lower competition, but still, that isn’t something I find that concerning like I said with Mario Williams. But there is one more left, and…
#1: Bruce Smith, Virginia Tech
If I was being honest here, I think the difference between Smith and Garrett is the same as the difference between Garrett and Clowney as a prospect. Smith is in a tier all by himself at the top of this list. The 1st overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft, he has it all in terms of his projection. He was the unanimous 1st overall pick in a way that only Myles is on this list, he is a freak athlete as well, for his time probably better than Myles, and had 46 fucking sacks in 4 years, with 2 double digit seasons with 22 and 16. The previous highest in a career we have seen on this list is 33. He beats out his next closest by 13 sacks. That’s a whole season worth of sacks for some of the best players on this list. He is an alien, and someone we haven’t seen anyone top as a prospect since.